<div>There’s a big difference between baking and cooking. For me, the major difference is that I love to bake and not so much to cook. <br /><br />Baking is one of those joys that I grew up with. My brother and I would always look forward to the baked goodies that my mother used to make. We love the aroma so much that we would run to the kitchen and wait by the oven for the timer to go off. <br /><br /> Now, my 8-year-old son is the one who waits by the oven for his share. On weekends, my family comes into the kitchen to bake something new and exciting. My husband Sujith and son Eshaan also help out. My son puts on his doggy-print apron and works his way around with a spatula, eggs, and muffin liners.<br /><br /> Sujith, on the other hand, helps with the after-cleaning. Eshaan also helps with the cleaning by licking away the cake mix from the bowl.<br /><br />Since I’ve become better at baking, I make sure that the ingredients I use are healthy for my son. So we’ve replaced a lot of regular ingredients asked in the recipe with the ones that are healthy. <br /><br />Since I’m usually busy with work on weekdays, we open my fridge on weekends and use what we can find to use for our baked goodies. <br /><br />To keep the fruit quotient in place, we add the dates and figs to whatever it is that we have planned to make.<br /><br />Though it might seem difficult to bake without using the usual ingredients, I’ve learnt over the years that almost everything can be substituted. It gives out great results too! I have been experimenting with a lot of oats and haven’t been disappointed so far. <br /><br />I’m not someone who enjoys decorating the cakes like others. I like to keep it simple and healthy. There was a time when we tried to make the buttercream, but it was a failed attempt. Since then, we decided to not even try it. <br /><br />I look at baking as a pure, unadulterated experience that I share with my family. <br />What I truly love about it is that you get to use your hands, mind, and heart at the same time and give you that out-of-the-world experience.<br /><br />The recipe that I’m sharing today is of ‘Healthy Brownie’ that is very simple to make at home. I’ve used oats and chocolate chunks in it so that the kids also feel satisfied when biting into it. <br /><br />It has the ‘yum factor’ in it that anybody who has it will fall in love it.” <br /><br />Dry ingredients<br /><br /><br />Powdered oats, ½ cup<br /><br />Whole-wheat flour, ½ cup<br /><br />Cocoa powder, 1/3 cup<br /><br />Baking soda, ¼ tsp<br /><br />Vanilla powder, 1 tsp<br /><br />Walnuts, cashews, almonds, ½ cup ground nuts <br /><br />Chocolate chunks, ¼ cup<br /><br />Wet ingredients<br /><br /><br />Eggs, 2 <br /><br />Oil, 5 tbsp<br /><br />Yogurt, 6 tbsp<br /><br />Brown sugar, 1 cup<br /><br />Method<br /><br /><br />Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.<br /><br />In a bowl, mix oats, wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, vanilla powder and ground nuts together with a fork. <br /><br />Mix eggs, oil, yogurt and sugar together in a separate bowl. Add this wet mix to the dry mix, and mix well. <br /><br />Lastly, cover the chocolate chunks in some wheat flour and add to the cake mix. This prevents the chunks from settling down at the bottom of the brownies. Bake for 30 mins at 180 degrees celsius.<br /><br />Let it cool before you cut your squares. <br /><br /><br />When in the mood for it, smother the brownies with chocolate ganache. If you decide to go for it, here’s how you do it. Heat up some fresh cream (I go for Amul), bring it to a boil. You need to be watchful as cream boils very quickly. Remove it from heat, and add to it grated or chopped cooking chocolate. Allow the ganache to cool down a little before you pour it over the brownies. Pour when it’s cool and cut your squares. It’s all yours now. <br /><br />Serve with vanilla ice cream<br /><br /><br /><br />(As told to Anila Kurian)</div>
<div>There’s a big difference between baking and cooking. For me, the major difference is that I love to bake and not so much to cook. <br /><br />Baking is one of those joys that I grew up with. My brother and I would always look forward to the baked goodies that my mother used to make. We love the aroma so much that we would run to the kitchen and wait by the oven for the timer to go off. <br /><br /> Now, my 8-year-old son is the one who waits by the oven for his share. On weekends, my family comes into the kitchen to bake something new and exciting. My husband Sujith and son Eshaan also help out. My son puts on his doggy-print apron and works his way around with a spatula, eggs, and muffin liners.<br /><br /> Sujith, on the other hand, helps with the after-cleaning. Eshaan also helps with the cleaning by licking away the cake mix from the bowl.<br /><br />Since I’ve become better at baking, I make sure that the ingredients I use are healthy for my son. So we’ve replaced a lot of regular ingredients asked in the recipe with the ones that are healthy. <br /><br />Since I’m usually busy with work on weekdays, we open my fridge on weekends and use what we can find to use for our baked goodies. <br /><br />To keep the fruit quotient in place, we add the dates and figs to whatever it is that we have planned to make.<br /><br />Though it might seem difficult to bake without using the usual ingredients, I’ve learnt over the years that almost everything can be substituted. It gives out great results too! I have been experimenting with a lot of oats and haven’t been disappointed so far. <br /><br />I’m not someone who enjoys decorating the cakes like others. I like to keep it simple and healthy. There was a time when we tried to make the buttercream, but it was a failed attempt. Since then, we decided to not even try it. <br /><br />I look at baking as a pure, unadulterated experience that I share with my family. <br />What I truly love about it is that you get to use your hands, mind, and heart at the same time and give you that out-of-the-world experience.<br /><br />The recipe that I’m sharing today is of ‘Healthy Brownie’ that is very simple to make at home. I’ve used oats and chocolate chunks in it so that the kids also feel satisfied when biting into it. <br /><br />It has the ‘yum factor’ in it that anybody who has it will fall in love it.” <br /><br />Dry ingredients<br /><br /><br />Powdered oats, ½ cup<br /><br />Whole-wheat flour, ½ cup<br /><br />Cocoa powder, 1/3 cup<br /><br />Baking soda, ¼ tsp<br /><br />Vanilla powder, 1 tsp<br /><br />Walnuts, cashews, almonds, ½ cup ground nuts <br /><br />Chocolate chunks, ¼ cup<br /><br />Wet ingredients<br /><br /><br />Eggs, 2 <br /><br />Oil, 5 tbsp<br /><br />Yogurt, 6 tbsp<br /><br />Brown sugar, 1 cup<br /><br />Method<br /><br /><br />Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.<br /><br />In a bowl, mix oats, wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, vanilla powder and ground nuts together with a fork. <br /><br />Mix eggs, oil, yogurt and sugar together in a separate bowl. Add this wet mix to the dry mix, and mix well. <br /><br />Lastly, cover the chocolate chunks in some wheat flour and add to the cake mix. This prevents the chunks from settling down at the bottom of the brownies. Bake for 30 mins at 180 degrees celsius.<br /><br />Let it cool before you cut your squares. <br /><br /><br />When in the mood for it, smother the brownies with chocolate ganache. If you decide to go for it, here’s how you do it. Heat up some fresh cream (I go for Amul), bring it to a boil. You need to be watchful as cream boils very quickly. Remove it from heat, and add to it grated or chopped cooking chocolate. Allow the ganache to cool down a little before you pour it over the brownies. Pour when it’s cool and cut your squares. It’s all yours now. <br /><br />Serve with vanilla ice cream<br /><br /><br /><br />(As told to Anila Kurian)</div>
